Here are the five nominees: (Winner in Bold)
The Big Chill
The Dresser
The Right Stuff
Tender Mercies
Terms of Endearment
Biggest Snub:
Scarface
My Overall Thoughts:
Another great year for choices for BP.
Any of my top three could easily have won it, but the other two were definitely long shots because they had great lead performances by the actors, but the stories are somewhat limited.
My Rankings:
Movies
- 5. – Tender Mercies – Duvall is superb here and deserved the Oscar for Best Actor, but the story moves along quite slowly and isn’t as inspiring as some of the other nominees this year.
- 4. – The Dresser – The performances by Courtney and Finney make this fun to watch, but the story itself is slightly lacking
- 3. – The Big Chill – Incredible film about friendship and how it can stand over time. The cast is unbelieveably talented and the superb script by Kasden shines through
- 2. – Terms of Endearment – Excellent film that has such heart because it all about family and love above all else. Superb performances by the entire cast which brings this up to an even higher level.
- 1. – The Right Stuff – Amazing true epic story of the beginning of the US space program. Unbelieveable cast helps accentuate the patriotism of it all.
Do I agree with the Oscar winner? – Yes and No. ToE is an amazing film with lots of heart, but TRS is still a better film because besides having heart it has the patriotic feeling to it. Similar to what would happen 12 years later with Apollo 13, the Academy went with the sentimental choice over the patriotic one.
Let me know what you think about these films and my rankings!
MovieRob 
I dont like Terms of Endearment. Everyone is so unlikable and the sentimentality is laid on so thick. I mean 1983 is year of Return of the Jedi and A Christmas Story. Both films much better than any of the nominees
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of course jedi is better, but i try to be realistic with these and unfortunately, neither of those great films would really have gotten a nomination for bp that yer
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Yeah I guess. It’s frustrating the Academy isnt more open to genre films. Return of the King was like one exception to the rule
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I totally agree that The Right Stuff is the best film of the lot, since I too wasn’t that impressed with Terms of Endearment, aside from the performances. I honestly thought Yentl or Cross Creek were better that year.
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